I Saw the Light

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source: I Saw the Light

"I Saw the Light" is the latest film about the much-troubled country music singer/song writer, Hank Williams. British actor Tom Hiddleston landed the lead role, and I thought he was fantastic. Yes, the script did not lend itself to being an autobiography, so if this is what the viewer wants, they need to look further. It is leaps and bounds better than the 1964 mess "Your Cheatin' Heart," starring George Hamilton. I am puzzled by the hammering of this movie by other critics. Many have said it only focused on a narrow part of Williams' life, i.e. he was an alcoholic, skirt-chasing hound dog. Well guys...like it or not, he WAS that. I guarantee you if the film had come across all s*its and giggles, the critics would have complained because the movie did not really tell what the real Hank Williams was like-- inevitably a no win situation. I have great admiration and respect for ANY actor who does his/her own singing, especially when they are portraying a legend in the music industry. I mean look what "Coal Miner's Daughter" did for Sissy Spacek. I won't go so far as to say Hiddleston's was as good as Sissy's, but it was pretty darn close. There were also some aspects of Williams' life that I never knew about. I did not know he had spina bifeda, nor how he discovered that particular ailment. "I Saw the Light" isn't a super movie, but it is better all way around than most other pieces of crap that are in release right now. It is a close call for me, but I do recommend it. The film is rated "R" for language, brief nudity, and scenes of hinted drug use. It's worth viewing for the great music, if nothing else.

When a movie has its release date changed, that's almost never a good sign. It shows the studio has no faith in the movie. And so this happened with "I Saw the Light," which was supposed to be released in November to prime it for upcoming awards shows such as the Oscars and Golden Globes. After a tepid opening at the Toronto Film Festival in Sept. 2015, the film was moved out of the awards season and into the spring. That is because the movie is just not that good. It's all about the scandals of Hank Williams life and it barely skims who he was as an artist. We see him indulging in womanizing, drinking, and pill popping. We see his health problems and him showing up late or not all for shows and then being fired from the Opry. But how did he develop as a singer and song writer? What was it that drove his creative process? How did he inspire future generations of singers years after his death? I don't really know from watching this film. Hiddleston is convincing as a Southerner and does a good job doing his own singing. Cherry Jones gives a strong performance as his mother. But they can't save this slow paced, meandering film. A better film can be made about this great artist.

Hank Williams was one of those talents who just seem to come along ever so often from "out of nowhere" and becomes a legend in his own time. Hank was a candle that burnt out quickly but only leaving behind great music, which was later recorded by just about every big name in the music business of the sixties and seventies, anyway. I am a sucker for true stories and "time pieces" so this was a film I wanted to see as soon as I saw an advert for it, even though I did not like country western in the days Mr Williams was still alive. Hank Williams is however a major reason I started listening to country western, and the lead actor Tim Hiddleston looks like Hank and portrays him as accurately as I suspect anybody could without making him look "cardboard". The music is played throughout the film and the scenery was well researched. (Don't look for any out of era vehicles, I don't think you will find any.) The film is best for an adult crowd for the language used in the film, but if you can see this for the great film I think it is, you will enjoy it. If this film is not Oscar material...nothing is of late.

Frustrating. That is how I would describe this unfocused and sadly unengaging biopic of legendary country singer Hank Williams, the man responsible for such memorable ditties as What You Got Cooking and Cold Cold Heart. At one time or another spoken about as being a likely contender at the Academy Awards, Marc Abraham's film that features an outstanding and deservedly acknowledged performance from British superstar Tom Hiddleston, I Saw the Light became a true non-event upon release around the world, making a paltry $1.6 million at the worldwide box office and a fate even worse here in Australia where it has been dumped straight onto home release without even the slightest bit of fanfare around, which is such a shame considering the material and tools at Abraham's disposal. William's story from that centres on an incredible rise to fame from a relatively sad upbringing is completely mishandled by Abraham with the film rarely, if ever, offering up much lead in or background to Williams bar an impressive meltdown at a music festival where Williams addresses the crowd under extreme duress. It's nigh on infuriating that we're never really allowed inside this talented performers mindset or history and makes the film feel as though it's at arm's length away at all times. This feeling of disconnect can be laid almost entirely to blame on Abraham as Hiddleston who has still perhaps been at his best as Loki in The Avengers before this film rather than the over praised Only Lovers Left Alive, The Deep Blue Sea and the overrated BBC series The Night Manager makes this role his own from the word go. As the camera slowly lingers in towards Hiddleston performing an impressive instrument free rendition (Hiddleston performs all his own songs here as well as playing the guitar) of hit William's song Cold Cold Heart to an intently concentrating audience, you forget that you're watching the British actor and feel as though you're instead witnessing the complete re-embodying of Williams. It's a turn that deserves a much better movie even if he gets solid support from Elizabeth Olsen as William's long suffering love Audrey. I Saw the Light is a real missed opportunity to not only tell the story of Williams but give Hiddleston the film his performance deserved and while the die-hard fans of Williams may find this film better than us Williams outsiders, it would be very hard to find many other reasons to watch this soulless film other than to see Hiddleston deliver the acting turn of his career so far. 2 electric garage door buttons out of 5

I think if you're going to create a bio-pic, even if you can't fit everything in it, you should include at least a story line that's poignant, or makes sense. I don't know much about Hank Williams, but I fear there was a lot more to him than was presented in this movie. What I really didn't like about the film was the lack of dramatic scenes between the characters. Most of the time, Hank, his wives and producers just sneer at each other and speak with venom of things we as an audience don't quite understand. It's not fully explained why a character is so angry, and they just come off as being really hateful. The writing was a bit lazy, focusing more on the domestic dramas of the main characters rather than the artistry of main character. On the other hand, the acting was splendid. Tom Hiddleston showed everyone that an Englishman could play an all out southern country singer - and he really knocks it out of the park. Elisabeth Olson is of course brilliant as Audrey Williams as well. Had the film gotten a better script and director, I think it would have been a lot more interesting and enjoyable.

I Saw The Light is a another attempt by Hollywood to exploit the legacy - sorry, dramatize the life of the iconic country singer. Thing is, Hank Williams' life was as full of drama, tragedy and redemption as anyone you could invent. So how is it they make yet another boring Hank Williams movie? Hank Williams - The Soap Opera. I'm a HW fan - not because he was a country star but because he was a great songwriter, as any songwriter worth their salt will tell you. I've seen all the HW movies and plays - not hard, there aren't many - and the ones that fail his musical legacy worst are the ones that show HW as a depressed, cantankerous, drunken hick from the sticks without having original, or close-to-original music that lets you forgive him all of that. It's because his music was so genuine, and a lot of it so good, that we see past the miserable, drunken hick to the sensitive man. Get the music wrong and you're left with a royal P.I.T.A. ISTL shows what drunks turn to in the end, but HW was more than that. A talented, intelligent, very insecure man - a Buddy Holly with issues - who was ruthlessly exploited by everyone - his mother, his managers, his wives, his doctors and now, the movie industry. And he let himself be exploited, past caring by the age of 29. That's what is interesting about him - not his decline, but the contrast of a man who could perfectly express common human feelings, but couldn't say 'no' to people (both sexes) who wanted to manage and manipulate him, and who medicated himself with the bottle on top of what his quack gave him for what's thought to be spina bifida. Keith Richards lifestyle, Billy Graham conscience. In a film about a musician, Tom Hiddleston delivers a just-about-competent musical performance. Not saying he can't act, this is just a Justin Timberlake version of one of the most soulful and expressive voices in a narrow genre. So unless you know HW's music in you head, it's another dud. If you're still interested in HW, keep an eye out for such by Simon W Donaldson, a fine (tall, thin) Scottish actor whose Hank Williams IS actually eerily accurate (apart from the yodel) and deeply perceptive. No doubt Simon does other stuff. Hiddleston as Bond? Don't make me laugh - maybe he'll sing the theme song too (let's hope not). PS In a way, the inability of Hollywood to turn Hank Williams into a merchandising franchise is a good thing - the authenticity of HW's life and unique sound - that transcends its time and genre - is incompatible with the complete falsity of the modern marketing system.